High Altitude Balloon.
Avionics and Software.
The Alpha CubeSat is a long-term project that ran out of Cornell's Space System Design Studio. The CubeSat, a 10x10x10 centimeter cubic satellite, aims to deploy a Solar Sail in orbit. The CubeSat has communication capabilities but can only downlink low-resolution images periodically. There is no way to capture video of the deployment in orbit. To get footage of the CubeSat ejecting a Solar Sail in a space-like environment, The Alpha Team started the high-altitude balloon project. A CubeSat will have all the sensory and power capabilities of the orbital CubeSat, but there will be no attitude control systems as the CubeSat will be launched in a launch rig equipped with cameras. This summer research aimed to get the launch system online for launch conditions in the fall. Successful completion of this project will allow the CubeSat team to get video footage of the light sail deploying in the upper atmosphere's extreme cold and vacuum-like environment.
Altium Design Preview
This is the current iteration of the avonics board design for the high altitude balloon. The board is designed to be a single PCB that contains all the necessary components for the flight, including the microcontroller, sensors, and communication modules. The board is designed to be compact and lightweight, with a focus on reliability and ease of integration with the launch rig.